Google+ Followers

Thursday, August 15, 2013

Another marathon match win for Janez Semrajc, another post-match interview

It's been the 5th win this week for the young Slovene and it's been the 4th in a row that goes to the 3rd set, this time Janez had to save a Match Point in the tie-break of the second set, he had to face a lot of pressure and fight against the easy temptation to give up, when he got caught back from 6-3 to 6-6 in this tiebreak, with one of his shots finishing long of less than a inch. Then again 3 more chances to close went by, but in the end he could win the set for 12 points to 10 and then sail to an amazing win in the third, when winner over winner he dismantled the last resistances of Dutch Schoorel.

Well, that
was…epic. You saved one match point in the tie-break…I mean, how did it feel
out there?

J.S. It was
tough, I mean, he saved 3 set points in a row, I guess it was 6-3, you know, I wanted
to find the quality for this moment, but it was really hard, because then I was
also 7-8 I guess (he faced a match point there) and I played a good forehand to
save it and that took a lot of pressure from me. It was really hard.

Yeah, but it
was great, I mean, the crowd was all behind you, they were supporting you. Could
you feel that?

J.S. Yeah, it
was really nice, because in those hard moment the crowd can help you to improve
your level to a step higher…sorry *takes a deep breath*

It’s ok, I
mean, you played some 12 hours for the past 4 matches, it’s…

J.S. But I
am ok, physically I am still good, I don’t know how, but I am ok…

You asked
for the physiotherapist before the match did even start, it’s quite unusual,
what was that for?

J.S. In the
last round of qualifies I hurt my back on the left side, so I just asked for
some kinesio-tape.

J.S. Yes,
but it was hard, because he’s such a good hitter, he plays so fast and it’s
hard to defend, I mean, against Veic that was easier!

After you
wasted one of the setpoints, correct me if I am wrong, my Slovenian ain’t that
good, you said to yourself to be more aggressive, in the end it turned out you
could do it.

J.S. yes,
because when I was aggressive he couldn’t play so hard, whenever I would just
put the ball in, he would get a lot of pressure on both my backhand and
forehand and I could do nothing on those balls.

Yes. In the
third set he started really well by holding to love with huge serves, then you
could come back, mostly mentally I guess and go up 5-1…

J.S. Well, it
was, I don’t, I was so happy I had one the 2nd set, so my mind was
not there, but later, I don’t know, he made some mistakes he didn’t hit before
and this maybe means that mentally he wasn’t so good there.